PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management and The Nature Conservancy announced today the collaborative preservation of the nearly 33-acre Babbitt estate in Tiverton. The property was acquired for $525,000 as an addition to DEM's Sapowet Marsh Wildlife Management Area. Funding includes $350,000 from the 1996 open space bond fund, $100,000 from The Nature Conservancy, which also provided survey costs, and $75,000 from DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife.

The property was inherited by Peter W. Babbitt, Terry Babbitt, Carol A. Lehoullier, and Lauren Elizabeth Mitchell, whose parents enjoyed the property for years. The property provides a critical buffer zone to the Sapowet salt marsh, and consists of six fields and pastures, as well as dense brushy hedgerows bordering the fields and marsh. It provides a good access point to the Sapowet Marsh property for hunting or passive enjoyment, and the aesthetic character of the site is outstanding, providing a great overlook to the Marsh.

Multiflora rose, autumn olive, wild raspberry, bittersweet, and red maples grow on the property, which is inhabited by cottontail rabbits, woodcock, ring-neck pheasant, red fox, raccoon, and other small mammals and birds.

"All Rhode Islanders will benefit from the decision of the Babbitt family to preserve this beautiful land for future generations to enjoy," said DEM Director Jan Reitsma. "It is families like this, who take concrete steps to protect the environment, that are role models for others. I thank them, and I thank The Nature Conservancy for stepping in to help ensure that this land could be saved."

Peter Babbitt said, "My family is very pleased that we were able to come to an agreement that is a win-win for all parties. We received a fair price for the land; the state is able to expand the Sapowet preserve; Tiverton protects more open space; and our parents would be very proud their beautiful land will be preserved for others to enjoy."

The Sapowet Marsh Wildlife Management Area, with the addition of the Babbitt property, now totals 260 acres. That includes a 138-acre salt marsh, sandy areas, agricultural land and forest. A variety of wildlife, including several species of ducks and geese, and stocked gamebirds such as ring-necked pheasant are found in the area. The management area also supports a variety of nongame species including shorebirds, wading birds, rails and songbirds. Salt water fishing access to the Sakonnet River is available west of Puncatest Neck Road, along the tidal creek into Sapowet Marsh, providing excellent opportunities for striped bass and bluefish. Access to the management area itself is available from Sapowet Avenue to, and along, Puncatest Road.

"We're very pleased to assist the state in making this addition to the Sapowet Marsh Management Area, one of the most significant wetlands in the state," said Doug Parker, Director of The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island. "I especially want to thank The Champlin Foundations for their grant to this project."

The Babbitt purchase is one of a number of properties preserved by the state and its partners this month. Also announced today was the preservation of 97 acres of Weeden Farms* in South Kingstown for $800,000. The land will be owned by the South Kingstown Land Trust, with an easement to DEM. Earlier this month, 134-acres of Windy Meadows Farm, adjacent to the US Fish and Wildlife's Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge Center in South Kingstown, was permanently protected by DEM and its partners for just over $1 million.

Also this month, approximately 50 acres were added to the Arcadia Management Area through the purchase of the Richards property for $200,000 and a conservation easement on an additional 145 acres was purchased for $270,000 through the Forest Legacy program. Sixty acres were added to DEM's Great Swamp Management Area in Charlestown for $66,000, 57 acres of the Gorcynski property in Glocester were added to DEM's Durfee Hill Management Area, 8.8 acres of the Read property in North Kingstown were added to DEM's South Shore Management Area, and an 80-acre parcel at Fry Pond in West Greenwich was preserved through local and open space funds. Preservation of a 140-acre Washington County farm through $610,000 in Agricultural Land Preservation funds is expected next month.

Throughout the year, and into January, DEM will have preserved 1766.49 acres of open space, at a total cost of $12,376,300. Of the total acreage, 425.38 acres were added to state parks and management area holdings; 237.04 acres of agricultural land will have been preserved for farming; 725.26 acres have been preserved as conservation easements; and 378.81 acres have been preserved as forestry easements.

Those protection efforts included the preservation of the Rose Island lighthouse in Newport in June, and the preservation of the 52.76-acre Mt. Hope Farm in Bristol in November, both with local grants and open space bond funds.

*Click here for short descriptions of parcels (December 1999).